A deadlock between the South Australian government and Australian Education Union (AEU) appears to be broken, with public school teachers being encouraged to accept a fourth "improved" pay and conditions offer.
The AEU's executive on Monday decided to recommend to its members that they accept the revised enterprise agreement, to avoid a third strike in as many months.
The revised deal proposes a 4 per cent teacher pay rise in the first year of the new agreement, and 3 per cent increases over the next three years.
The AEU said it also proposes to boost incentives for country teachers and provide $16 million each year to reduce the workload of preschool directors.
"The offer we received today makes several improvements to key measures of our platform and represents the largest ever investment in a South Australian education enterprise agreement," the union's branch president Andrew Gohl said.
"There is no silver bullet to fix a crisis brought by years of underinvestment, but the AEU has secured the most possible through negotiations, supported by our members."
Members have until Friday, December 15 to vote on whether to accept the offer.
"This offer, while imperfect, provides a strong foundation for our ongoing work to improve working conditions for public educators, as we continue to campaign for an education system that receives the respect and investment it deserves", Mr Gohl said.
"Whether we accept this offer is now up to our committed members, who work tirelessly to support students in schools and preschools every day."
Education Minister Blair Boyer told ABC Radio Adelaide he was happy with the union's decision to endorse the latest offer.
"I know it has been a tough time for people out there in our schools as we've gone through this bargaining process and two industrial actions," Mr Boyer said.
"The final offer that was put yesterday comes in, I think at about $1.6 billion over the life of the agreement because it includes a fourth pay offer in there."
The agreement also includes an additional 1 hour of non-instructional time a week for teachers in an effort to address growing workloads.
Mr Boyer said he knew other South Australian unions would pay close attention to the outcome of this enterprise agreement.
"It's our job as a government to be able to, as best we can, address these issues that are put forward by unions," he said.
"But we need to do that and keep front of mind that what we offer needs to be sustainable for the budget and something we can afford."
Members voted to strike for the second time in November, refusing the government's previous offer of a 4 per cent pay rise in the first year of their new agreement, followed by a 3 per cent rise in the second year and 2.5 per cent rise in the third.
At the time, Mr Boyer said the offer was worth about $1.4 billion and amounted to the largest ever made to teachers in South Australia.
Posted Mon 4 Dec 2023 at 9:23am Monday 4 Dec 2023 at 9:23am Mon 4 Dec 2023 at 9:23am , updated Tue 5 Dec 2023 at 2:49am Tuesday 5 Dec 2023 at 2:49am Tue 5 Dec 2023 at 2:49am
